Tesla proposes giving Elon Musk $29 billion so he stays CEO

Tesla approved a restricted banal grant of 96 cardinal shares, worthy astir $29 billion, to “incentivize” the arguable billionaire to stay astatine the caput of the institution during a protracted ineligible battle implicit his archetypal wage package.

Last year, a Delaware tribunal voided Musk’s wage package, valued astatine much than $50 billion, arguing that the woody was flawed and unfair to shareholders and that Musk held undue power implicit its composition. Shareholders had voted doubly to approve the hefty compensation, but the justice inactive upheld her ruling blocking it. Tesla has appealed the decision to the Delaware Supreme Court.

Now, the institution is asking shareholders to o.k. this caller award, arguing that Tesla is connected the cusp of becoming a person successful AI and robotics, requiring Musk’s dependable manus connected the helm. To beryllium sure, Tesla’s presumption is shakier than ever. Musk’s enactment for President Donald Trump and his enactment astatine the Department of Government Efficiency to occurrence tens of thousands of national workers and cancel humanitarian adjutant programs has spawned a nationwide protestation question and a steep driblet successful sales. Tesla’s banal has shed much than 20 percent of its worth truthful acold this year.

Still, Tesla’s committee sees Musk’s continued engagement arsenic indispensable to the company’s future. Earlier this year, Tesla’s committee created a peculiar committee compromised of committee seat Robyn Denholm and committee subordinate Kathleen Wilson-Thompson to see caller ways to compensate Musk, who the committee claims “has not received meaningful compensation for 8 years.”

“While we admit that Elon’s concern ventures, interests and different imaginable demands connected his clip and attraction are extended and wide-ranging … we are assured that this grant volition incentivize Elon to stay astatine Tesla and absorption his unmatched enactment abilities connected further creating shareholder worth for Tesla shareholders and attracting and retaining endowment astatine Tesla,” Denholm and Wilson-Thompson wrote successful a missive to shareholders.

The committee noted that if the Delaware courts afloat reinstate Musk’s 2018 wage package, the caller interim assistance would beryllium forfeited oregon offset truthful determination is “no treble dip.” In accepting the caller stock, Musk would hold to service arsenic caput of Tesla until 2027. Shareholders volition ballot connected the caller woody astatine their yearly meeting, which is scheduled for November 6th.

After years of exponential growth, the abrupt reversal successful Tesla’s luck has near galore investors and supporters with whiplash. As Musk slid deeper into politics, investors person urged him to enactment focused connected Tesla and its costly — and questionable — task to physique much self-driving cars and humanoid robots. The institution rolled retired its archetypal robotaxi work successful Austin, Texas, past period — though the service fell abbreviated of Musk’s earlier predictions. The company’s lone caller merchandise since 2020, the Cybertruck, has wide been considered a flop. And contention from bequest automakers, particularly those successful China, has been sapping Tesla’s resources.

Musk is presently Tesla’s largest shareholder, with a 13 percent involvement successful the company. But the CEO has said helium wants much power implicit the institution successful bid to person much sway implicit its ngo — which this plans aims to produce.

“That is simply a large interest for me, arsenic I’ve mentioned successful the past, and I anticipation that is addressed astatine the upcoming shareholders meeting,” Musk said successful a caller net call, successful effect to a question astir his voting stake. “I privation to find that I’ve got truthful small power that I tin easy beryllium ousted by activistic shareholders aft having built this service of humanoid robots … I’ve mentioned before, I deliberation my power of Tesla should beryllium capable to guarantee that it goes successful a bully direction, but not truthful overmuch power that I can’t beryllium thrown retired if I spell crazy.”